“He talked about him all the time. He was really into his sport and he knew that Ricky was such an animal inside the ring.

“He’s a brilliant boxer and Allan would have loved to meet ‘The Hitman’ himself.

“He was right into his boxing and since he was young he would stay up late to watch Ricky’s fights.

“Ricky’s donated a few gloves which have sold for £150 each which help to keep my son in the public eye so that’s massively appreciated.”

Hatton met Allan jnr’s mum, Marie, 46, and sister, Amy, 20, in Glasgow today, where he was promoting a fight involving one of his proteges, Kiryl Relikh, from Belarus.

Hatton’s backing for the Bryant family campaign followed a boxing event in Paisley last weekend. A boxer who is a friend of the Bryant family approach Hatton and asked him if he was prepared to offer his support.

Allan junior has not been seen since vanishing after a night out in 2013, when he was said to have been in ‘high spirits’ when he left the family home.

His family have been campaigning tirelessly to find information about his son’s disappearance since he went missing in the early hours of November 3 when he was last seen leaving Styx nightclub in Glenrothes, Fife, just a short walk from his home.

CCTV footage shows him leaving the building but he didn’t complete the 10-minute walk home and hasn’t been seen since.

His dad and the family believe he was murdered and his body hidden, and are trying to get to the bottom of his disappearance.

Police, who have been severely criticised by the Bryant family over their handling of the investigation, insist the case is still under investigation and that the family are being kept informed.

Hatton, from Manchester, is renowned as one of the best and most popular fighters Britain has ever produced, with large crowds travelling around the world with him to watch him fight.

His 2007 bout with Floyd Mayweather smashed television viewing records, with 1.2 million pay-per-views buys on Sky, far more than the 750,000 sold for the Lennox Lewis – Mike Tyson fight in 2002.